History, Canada

TMU Libraries Omni Search
For optimum use, sign in. This search engine searches for journal articles (many are available electronically), books, e-books, theses and dissertations, and newspaper articles from some recent and a selection of archival newspapers. It indexes digitized content such as out-of-copyright books and journals that are available from sources such as The Internet Archive and The Hathi Trust. Omni facilitates discovery and borrowing of print books from other universities in Ontario excluding the University of Toronto.

Refine your search using the filters on the left.

For more advanced searching across a more targeted set of resources, you may want to try a discipline specific indexing/abstracting database or collection as listed in the next boxes.

Omni replaces the traditional catalogue that used to search for books, e-books, dvds, and other resources except for journal articles. Now, Omni can be used to look for known books, or when using the default (a keyword) search to find some relevant titles for an assignment. Whether using a Simple or Advanced search, you can use the filters on the left to limit to Resource Type: Book chapters, or, Books & eBooks. You can use the Browse Search with the drop down option for Library of Congress Subject Heading. This type of search is ideal for finding Books and Ebooks in our collection. It will display a selective index of subject headings most relevant to your search When you find book records, you can use the Subject terms in the record to link to similar items. If you want to find books, e-books and articles at the same time, consider using Omni, Advanced Search and Subject Contains ...

Some useful subject searches using Omni Browse Searching & Library of Congress Subject Heading:

• brown george 1818-1880
• Canada history 1867-
• canada social life and customs
• fur trade canada
• Ontario politics and government
• Quebec province history
• Toronto ont. history
• World war 1914-1918 participation canadian
• Women Canada history

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

remain useful sources of quick information.  In addition to free sources such as Wikipedia, consider some of our licensed electronic content from publishers such as Oxford University Press, as well as printed items. 

Try using Omni, Advanced Search and Subject contains: [type a topical word or words] and either dictionaries, or, encyclopedias

Example Subject contains searches:

• canada encyclopedias
• indigenous peoples canada encyclopedias
• indigenous peoples north america encyclopedias

Biographical information

Consider these resources:

• Dictionary of Canadian Biography (print for those who died 1930 and earlier; online includes new entries for those who died after 1931 and some and revised entries)
• The Canadian Who's Who (for living persons at time of publication)(older issues in print only; some editions are available online--use Omni to search by title).
• Who's Who in Canada (1949/50-2001, for living persons, especially lawyers and business leaders at time of publication)
• The Canadian Men and Women of the Time ... 1st ed. 1898. Also available in e-book format from the Internet Archive.
• The Canadian Men and Women of the Time ... 2nd ed. 1912 (online from Hathi Trust; also available from the Internet Archive)
• Native Peoples A to Z: A Reference Guide to Native Peoples of the Western Hemisphere.  2nd ed. (2009, 8 vols.)
• Encyclopedia of North American Indians (print and online)
• Current Biography (1941-2015) (more recent editions available at the Toronto Public Library)

• The Canadian Album: Men of Canada: Success By Example … edited by Wm. Cochrane. Brantford Ont.: Bradley, Garretson & Co. 1891-1896. 5 vols. The indexes at the rear of each volume are particularly useful as the entries are in no particular order. You can also use the search icon on the left to find the "search inside" tool. Available from the Internet Archive: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5

• A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time ... edited by Geo. Maclean Rose. Toronto: Rose Publishing, 1888. Available from the Internet Archive. A second digitized copy.

• A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Brief Biographies of Persons Distinguished in the Professional, Military and Political Life, and the Commerce and Industry of Canada, in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Hector Charlesworth. Toronto: Hunter-Rose Company, 1919. Available from the Internet Archive.

You can also try searching Omni, Advanced, Subject contains ...

• canada biography dictionaries

Historical Maps and Atlases

• Canada Historical geography Maps (Omni, Browse, Library of Congress Subject heading)
• Canada history maps (Omni, Advanced, Subject contains ...)

The W.H. Pugsley Collection of Early Canadian Maps from McGill University Library

The David Rumsey Map Collection contains historical maps of North and South America.

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library is digitizing many of the 200,000 maps in the collection. Search digital content under the Collections tab.

The Toronto Public Library (TPL) has ongoing subscriptions to many biographical resources as well other dictionaries and encyclopedias that are not available at TMU. Many of the resources are located at the Toronto Reference Library situated just north of Bloor Street on Yonge Street. All TMU students and employees are eligible for Toronto Public Library borrowing privileges.

Many items from Open Access Sources can be found using the Omni Search box. To search specific sites, consider the following:

The Internet Archive

Canadiana Discovery Portal

Canadiana Heritage Project

Canada's Local Histories Online

DOAB Directory of Open Access Books